Broadband News

Small World now offering cable connections at 30Mbps

Small World Media, while not the size of Virgin Media, has just taken the crown of the fastest UK consumer broadband connection speed. In their October newsletter, the company has announced it is
upping the speed of its fastest package from 18Mbps (Mega bits per second) to 30Mbps. This and other news about Small World can be found on the companies website.

The cable provider provides TV, phone and broadband services in the counties of Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Northumberland, Cumbria and parts of Lancashire.

Comments

fantastic! im so tempted to go pop in one day after work and ask them about it

/me heads off to digitalspy forums..

wifigeek

over 10 years ago

As a resident of Dumfries and Galloway and someone who stays not 5 yards from SWM's fibre I am not aware of any services provided here unless "passing through" is now a service?

hearty

over 10 years ago

Just note to the admins…. My site ( the one mentioned in the article ) is not owned by Smallworld or even shaped by them. It is independent…. Totally….

Also to answer an email I got – I’m not sure about the upstream speeds but I currently get 1Mb on the 4Mb package which is also unlimited and not locked down in any way.

Hopefully it will stay this way until the minority abuse it…. But that’s another story. What I can also tell you is that SW have invested a lot of money in to the whole network and we are now just seeing the benefits of it. - Terran

ccsnet

over 10 years ago

is that 1mbit on the upstream on the 4mbit package you are getting? sounds good! is that provided via the xDSL2 LLU or via cable service?

wifigeek

over 10 years ago

It is a cable service.

adriandaz

over 10 years ago

Yeh - just to confirm via the cable modem.... not sure about the ADSL2 setup as I'm not seen the details yet. - Terran

ccsnet

over 10 years ago

The upload speed on the 18mbit package is 600kb the upload speed on the slower packages is 300kb they cut the upload speeds last january and didnt bother informing the customers

cartlan

over 10 years ago

I had the 8MB package until recently which was always up to spec, however on 1st October moved to 18MB and the variation in speed is terrible not just by a couple of meg either.
My top speed EVER has been 14MB and some of the time it is as low as 2MB very disappointed

stevetroon

over 10 years ago

I have the exact same problem, it was fine until I upgaded on 1st October now the speed is up and down like a yo-yo its usualy between 4 and 5Mb the fastest its ever been is 14Mb, they came out yesterday and changed my modem and its still the same, they told me nobody else was having this problem

cartlan

over 10 years ago

I have reported it to them with speedtests from this site as evidence but they want me to use their own speed test which I cannot be bothered trying to work out how it works. It is apparent that this isnt a problem at our end as we can both say we have the exact problem. I am in Troon how about yourself?

stevetroon

over 10 years ago

thanks for that - looks like i will give it a miss then. especially with 18month contract, ill wait till they can actually deliver decent bandwidth.

i often get from 4-6mbit on my xDSL.

wifigeek

over 10 years ago

I am in Irvine, and its definetly a problem with the network since they started the 18mb service. my 8mb service was always 8mb, now at peak times my modem seems to get kicked off the network and I cant get back on untill the early hours of the morning

cartlan

over 10 years ago

I have to say personally with the phone and broad band option its the best service I've had in ages... and I've not noticed any real speed or response problems... Have a look at my kit @ http://www.letscommunicate.co.uk/asmallworld/ - I dont go through the STB if thats any help ? - Terran

ccsnet

over 10 years ago

No cable in this part of Kilmarnock, but I've signed up for their dsl. Can't be worse than Pipex Homecall/Tiscali.

They also told me that the 8mbit has 600kbps upload, and the 18mbit's upstream is higher again.

weegiegeek

over 10 years ago

dont suppose they told you the upload speed of the 18mbit did they?

wifigeek

over 10 years ago

no, unfortunately not :(

it's a freephone number so give them a bell.

weegiegeek

over 10 years ago

I was back on the phone to them today and I checked again what the upload speeds were and they told me the fastest upload they do is 600Kbps and the 8mb upload speed is 300kbps, Im using a cable modem,I dont know if it differs if you use dsl I didnt ask

cartlan

over 10 years ago

thats somewhat what i expected. i wonder what the upstream is going to be on this 30mbit product - i hope its more than 600kbps or they can keep it ! 600kbps is bad enough with the 18mbit product, damned awful. how are you supposed to achieve linerate speed when the upstream is pathetic for return ack packets?

wifigeek

over 10 years ago

i contacted them in december as i was intrested in switching, but the upstream is still 600Kbs and there is no forseable increase in this, they then started asking why i wanted a faster upload and that 600kBS was fine for home use, and then tried to sell me SDSL but would not give me a price via email, ill stick with UKFSN for the moment